U.S. patent number 5,297,351 [Application Number 07/960,828] was granted by the patent office on 1994-03-29 for blades for snow-removal vehicles and vehicles therewith.
Invention is credited to Mario Cote.
United States Patent |
5,297,351 |
Cote |
March 29, 1994 |
Blades for snow-removal vehicles and vehicles therewith
Abstract
Blades are used in association with snow buckets articulated
from snow-removing vehicles. In a preferred embodiment, the snow
bucket comprises rotatably mounted about its lateral sides, a
floating snow blade outwardly projectable substantially
horizontally in front of the lower portion of each of the side
walls of the bucket, as to float according to the conformation
thereunder and to confine and to force the snow between the snow
blades and the bucket to enter the bucket and to shovel it and
thereby increasing the snow content of a bucket per stroke.
Preferably, the floating snow blades are outwardly projectable
substantially horizontally in alternation, in front of or in the
back of, the lower portion of each of said side walls.
Inventors: |
Cote; Mario (Lac St-Jean Qc G0W
2S0, CA) |
Family
ID: |
25675592 |
Appl.
No.: |
07/960,828 |
Filed: |
October 14, 1992 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
37/232; 37/241;
37/264; 37/409 |
Current CPC
Class: |
E01H
5/045 (20130101); E02F 3/962 (20130101); E02F
3/8152 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
E01H
5/04 (20060101); E01H 005/04 () |
Field of
Search: |
;37/232,233,241,264,281,270,DIG.12,DIG.3,141R,117.5,407,408,409,410,444,445 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Reese; Randolph A.
Assistant Examiner: McBee; J. Russell
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Gauvin; Antoine H.
Claims
I claim:
1. A snow bucket comprising;
side walls,
bottom and rear walls joining said side walls to define a bucket
having an opening away from said rear wall,
at least one floating snow blade having opposite top and bottom
edges, said top and bottom edges being substantially straight and
having each respectively opposite ends,
said at least one blade near one of the ends between said top and
bottom edges, being rotatably mounted to one of said side walls and
substantially parallel to said one of said side walls, adjacent to
said bottom and near said opening of said bucket, with a means to
rotate joining said blade to said one of said side walls and said
means to rotate being the only means to hold said blade to said
bucket, to enable said blade to be floating according to
configuration of the surface bearing said bottom edge, underneath
said bottom edge, and for allowing said snow blade to be
projectable frontward, in front of the lower portion of said at
least one of said side walls, adjacent to said opening, to confine
and to force any snow adjacent to said snow blade and said opening
of said bucket to enter said bucket, to be shovelled, and thereby
to increase the snow content of a bucket per stroke.
2. The snow bucket as defined in claim 1, having
a pair of said at least one floating snow blades, each blade having
opposite top and bottom edges, said top and bottom edges being
substantially straight and having each respectively opposite
ends,
each one of the blades near one of the ends between said top and
bottom edges, being each respectively rotatably mounted to one of
said side walls and substantially parallel to said side walls,
adjacent to said bottom and near said opening of said bucket, with
each respectively a means to rotate joining one of said blades to
one of said side walls and said means to rotate being the only
means to hold said blades to said bucket, to enable said blades,
each respectively, to be independently floating according to
configuration of the surface bearing said bottom edge of said
blades, underneath said bottom edge, and for allowing said blades,
each independently, to be projected frontward in front of the lower
portion of each of said side walls, to confine and to force any
snow between said snow blades and said opening of said bucket to
enter said bucket, to be shovelled, and thereby to increase the
snow content of a bucket per stroke.
3. A snow bucket comprising:
side walls,
bottom and rear walls joining said side walls to define a bucket
having an opening away from said rear wall, said opening being the
front of said bucket,
a pair of floating snow blades, each blade having opposite top and
bottom edges, said top and bottom edges being substantially
straight and having each respectively opposite ends,
each one of the blades near one of the ends between said top and
bottom edges, being each independently rotatably mounted to one of
said side walls and substantially parallel to said one of said side
walls, adjacent to said bottom and near said opening of said
bucket, with a means to rotate joining one of said blades to one of
said side walls and said means to rotate being the only means to
hold said blades to said bucket, to enable said blades, each
respectively to be independently floating according to
configuration of the surface bearing the bottom edge of each of
said blades, underneath their respective bottom edge and for
allowing said blades, each independently, to be alternately
projectable upon their rotation,
frontward of the lower portion of each of said side walls adjacent
to said opening, in order to confine and to force any snow between
said snow blades and said bucket, and said snow to enter said
bucket, to be shovelled and thereby to increase the snow content of
a bucket per stroke,
and backwardly, from the bottom wall of said bucket, to confine and
to force the snow between said snow blades and the back of said
bucket, and thereby to prevent said snow from producing heaps and
embankments on each side of a bucket during charging and pushing
operations.
4. The snow bucket as defined in claim 3, wherein said snow blades
are plates having parallelogram shape.
5. The snow bucket as defined in claim 3, wherein said snow blades
are rectangularly shaped.
6. The snow bucket as defined in claim 3, wherein said snow blades
are rectangularly shaped plates having a pair of opposite long
sides, defining said opposite top and bottom edges, and a pair of
opposite short sides, each of said plates near one of its short
sides, about mid-way of said one short side, being rotatably
mounted to the lower portion of each of said side walls of said
snow bucket.
7. The snow bucket as defined in claim 1, wherein said snow blade
is a rectangularly shaped plate having a pair of opposite long
sides, defining said opposite top and bottom edges and a pair of
opposite short sides, said plate near one of its short sides, about
mid-way of said one short side, being rotatably mounted to said at
least one of said side walls.
8. The snow bucket as defined in claim 3, wherein at least one
orifice is provided in each of said snow blades and correspondingly
an orifice in their corresponding side walls, and each of said snow
blades includes a fastening means through their corresponding
orifices to releasably hold each of said plates against their
respective adjacent side walls of said bucket.
9. The snow bucket as defined in claim 3, wherein said snow blades
are rectangularly shaped and wherein the height of said blades is
about half that of the height of said side walls and the length is
approaching that of the length of the side walls but stopping short
thereof.
10. The snow bucket as defined in claim 3, wherein said snow blades
are rectangularly shaped plates having a pair of opposite long
sides, defining said opposite top and bottom edges, and of opposite
short sides, each of said plates near the edge of each of their
long sides, having a reinforcing rib running parallel to each of
said long sides.
11. The snow bucket as defined in claim 10, wherein said rib is a
strengthening bar.
12. The snow bucket as defined in claim 3, wherein said snow blades
are rectangularly shaped plates having a pair of opposite long
sides, defining said opposite top and bottom edges and a pair of
opposite short sides, each of said plates near one of its short
sides, being rotatably mounted to said side walls, each of said
plates near the edge of each of their long sides, having a
reinforcing rib running parallel to each of said long sides and at
least one of said short sides having rubber-like resilience
bumpers.
13. The snow bucket as defined in claim 12, wherein only the other
of said short sides has said resilient bumpers.
14. The snow bucket as defined in claim 3, being articulated on a
snow-removal wheeled vehicle.
15. The snow bucket as defined in claim 3, being hydraulically
articulated on a snow-removal wheeled vehicle.
16. A snow bucket comprising;
side walls,
bottom and rear walls joining said side walls to define a bucket
having an opening away from said rear walls,
a pair of floating snow blades, said snow blades being
rectangularly shaped plates having a pair of opposite long sides,
defining opposite tope and bottom edges, and of opposite short
sides, each of said plates near one of its short sides, having an
elongated slot running parallel to said short sides, and
correspondingly an orifice on the side wall of said bucket adjacent
each of said plates,
each of said orifices having a headed pin snugly fitting one of
said orifices and the slot in the adjacent plate in order to enable
sliding and floating and floating of said snow blade, and
cooperating with each of said headed pins a retaining disc
sandwiching one of said side walls and one of said plates together
in between a pin and a disc, and thereby while being rotably
mounted to and solely held to one of said side walls with one of
said headed pins so as to float according to configuration of the
surface bearing said bottom edge, underneath said bottom edge,
allowing said blades, each independently, upon their rotation to be
alternately projected:
frontward of the lower portion of each of said side walls adjacent
to said opening, in order to confine and to force any snow between
said snow blades and said bucket, and said snow to enter said
opening of said bucket to be shovelled and thereby to increase the
snow content of a bucket per stroke,
and backwardly, from the bottom wall, of said bucket, to confine
and to force the snow between said snow blades and the back of said
bucket, and thereby to prevent said snow from producing heaps and
embankments on each side of a bucket during charging and pushing
operations.
17. A snow-removal wheeled vehicle having a bucket and lifting arms
including pistons coupled with hydraulic means to hydraulically
articulate and join said bucket to said snow-removal wheeled
vehicle,
said bucket having side walls,
bottom and rear walls joining said side walls to define a bucket
having an opening away from said rear wall,
a pair of floating snow blades, each blade having two opposite long
sides defining a top and a bottom edge, said sides being
substantially straight and having each respectively opposite
ends,
each one of the blades near one of the ends between said top and
bottom edges, being each independently rotatably mounted to one of
said side walls and substantially parallel to said side walls,
adjacent to said bottom and near said opening of said bucket, with
a means to rotate joining said blade to said one of said side walls
and said means to rotate being the only means to hold said blade to
said bucket, to enable said blade to a floating according to
configuration of the surface bearing said bottom edge, underneath
said bottom edge and for allowing said blades, each independently,
to be alternately projected upon their rotation,
frontward of the lower portion of each of said side walls adjacent
to said opening, in order to confine and to force the snow between
said snow blades and said bucket, and said snow to enter said
bucket, and to shovel it and thereby to increase the snow content
of a bucket per stroke,
and backwardly, from the bottom wall, of said bucket, to confine
and to force the snow between said snow blades and the back of said
bucket, upon pushing snow with a portion of said bottom wall
adjacent to said blades, and thereby to prevent said snow from
producing heaps and embankments on each side of a bucket during
charging and pushing operations.
18. A snow-removal wheeled vehicle having a bucket and lifting arms
including pistons coupled with hydraulic means to hydraulically
articulate and join said bucket to said snow-removal wheeled
vehicle, said bucket having side walls, bottom and rear walls
joining said side walls to define a bucket having an opening away
from said rear wall,
a pair of floating snow blades, said snow blades being
rectangularly shaped plates and having a pair of opposite long
sides and of opposite short sides, each of said plates near one of
its short sides, having an elongated slot running parallel to said
short sides, and correspondingly an orifice on the side wall of
said bucket adjacent to each of said plate, each of said orifices
having a headed pin snugly fitting into one of said orifices and
the slot in the adjacent plate to enable sliding and floating of
said snow blade, and cooperating with each of said headed pins a
retaining disc to sandwich one of said side walls and of said
plates, in between a pin and a disc, to enable said blade to be
floating and alternately projectable frontward and backwardly.
19. A snow-removal wheeled vehicle as defined in claim 17, wherein
said floating snow blades include at least one orifice in each of
said plates and correspondingly an orifice in their corresponding
snow blade,
and each of said snow blades includes a fastening means through
their corresponding orifices to releasably hold each of said plates
against their respective adjacent side walls of said bucket.
20. The snow bucket as defined in claim 16, wherein said plates are
steel plates.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the invention
This invention relates to blades for snow-removal vehicles and
vehicles therewith. This invention is particularly directed to
blades to be used in association with snow buckets articulated from
snow-removing vehicles to enable larger charges of snow per stroke
and reduce the filling time of buckets.
2. Description of related art
Normally the snow-removal vehicles that are known, are provided
with a bucket articulated by a hydraulically-operated lifting arm.
Several back and fore strokes are required to fill in the bucket as
the snow is tending to move away from the bucket. The prior art
offers no solution to reduce the amount of strokes required. These
strokes are time consuming though they are required to remove the
spilling of snow. No solution is taught in the prior art.
Brownly teaches, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,208,812 dated Jun. 24, 1980, a
hydraulically-actuated snow plow attachment swingable in a vertical
plane to inhibit the lateral flow from a snow plow blade having no
lateral walls or sides.
Klett teaches, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,010,561 dated May 8, 1977, a
earth-moving scraper with a pivotally adjustable router bit to
fracture the soil ahead of both sides of the cutting edges of the
scraper.
Arnold teaches in U.S. Pat. No. 3,854,608 dated Dec. 17, 1974, a
backhoe bucket having two sections. Another backhoe bucket is
disclosed in Clark, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,899 dated Apr. 3,
1973.
Majkrzak teaches, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,986,012 dated Jan. 22, 1991, a
motorized rotary blade snowblower. The snow blower has a housing
which covers the rotary blades and a drift cutting arm that is
fastened to and upwardly extends from the sides of the housing in a
working position.
W.W. Wolfe et al, teach, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,034,237 dated May 15,
1962, multi-function attachments, one of which is a removable scoop
as shown in FIG. 6 of said Patent.
Magee et al, teach in U.S. Pat. No. 2,763,944 dated Sept. 25, 1956,
bulldozer blades slidably mounted in front of a bulldozer
blade.
Steinhoff teaches, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,707,936 dated Nov. 24, 1987,
an attachment comprising a side plate to a snow blade.
Schneider teaches, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,373,515 dated Mar. 19, 1968,
a side plate to the blader of a grader.
Martel et al, teach in Canadian Pat. No. 944,950 dated Apr. 9,
1974, an attachment for support from a rear mounted grader blade,
whereby manure may be mounted.
As far as applicant is aware there is no existing blade for
snow-removal vehicles. By "snow-removal vehicles" or "snow-removal
vehicle" throughout the specification including the disclosure and
claims, is meant those not merely pushing the snow but removing it
by shovelling it with snow buckets articulated from snow-removing
vehicles.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Broadly stated the invention is directed to blades for snow-removal
vehicles and vehicles therewith to enable larger charges of snow
per stroke and reduce the filling time of buckets.
This ingenious device is simple to produce, easy to mount onto
snow-removal vehicles and is relatively inexpensive with respect to
the advantages to be derived therefrom.
In a preferred embodiment, this invention relates to a snow bucket
comprising rotatably mounted about its lateral sides, a floating
snow blade outwardly projectable frontward in front of the lower
portion of each of said side walls, as to float according to the
conformation or configuration thereunder, of the surface bearing
said snow blade and to confine and to force the snow between said
snow blades and said bucket to enter said bucket and to shovel it
and thereby increasing the snow content of a bucket per stroke.
In another preferred embodiment the invention is directed to a snow
bucket comprising side walls, bottom and rear walls joining said
side walls to define a bucket, rotatably mounted about each of said
side walls, a snow blade outwardly projecting frontward from the
lower portion of each of said side walls as to float according to
the conformation or configuration thereunder, of the surface
bearing said snow blade and to confine and to force the snow
between said snow blades and said bucket to enter said bucket and
to shovel it and thereby increasing the snow content of a bucket
per stroke.
In another preferred embodiment the snow bucket comprises: side
walls, bottom and rear walls joining said side walls to define a
bucket, rotatably mounted about each of said side walls, a floating
snow blade outwardly projectable in alternation, in front of or in
the back of, the lower portion of each of said side walls as to
float according to the conformation or configuration thereunder, of
the surface bearing said snow blades and when said floating snow
blades are outwardly projecting in front of the lower portion of
each of said side walls to confine and to force the snow between
said snow blades and said bucket, and said snow to enter said
bucket, and to shovel it and thereby increasing the snow content of
a bucket per stroke, and when said floating snow blades are
outwardly projectable in the back of the lower portion of each of
said side walls to confine and to force the snow between said snow
blades and the back of said bucket, and thereby avoiding said snow
to produce heaps, embankments or monticules on each side of a
bucket during charging and pushing operations.
The invention is also directed to a snow-removal wheeled vehicle
having a bucket and lifting arms including pistons coupled with
hydraulic means to hydraulically articulate and join said bucket to
said snow-removal wheeled vehicle, said bucket having side walls,
bottom and rear walls joining said side walls to define a bucket,
rotatably mounted about each of said side walls, a floating snow
blade outwardly projectable in alternation, in front of and in the
back of, the lower portion of each of said side walls as to float
according to the conformation or configuration thereunder, of the
surface bearing said snow blade and when said floating snow blades
are outwardly projecting in front of the lower portion of each of
said side walls to confine and to force the snow between said snow
blades and said bucket, and said snow to enter said bucket, and to
shovel it and thereby increasing the snow content of a bucket per
stroke, and when said floating snow blades are outwardly
projectable in the back of the lower portion of each of said side
walls to confine and to force the snow between said snow blades and
the back of said bucket, and thereby avoiding said snow to produce
heaps, embankments or monticules on each side of a bucket during
charging and pushing operations.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Referring now to the drawings which illustrate a preferred
embodiment of the invention:
FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a snow-removal vehicle acting
frontward;
FIG. 2 is a face view of the bucket of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a top view of the bucket of FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a side view of the bucket and the floating snow blades
acting backwardly;
FIG. 5 is a side view of the bucket with the floating snow blades
in the lock position.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, and particularly 1, a snow-removal
wheeled vehicle 10 having lifting arm or arms 12 including pistons
coupled with hydraulic means to hydraulically articulate a bucket
14.
The bucket 14 comprises side walls 14a, 14b, bottom and rear walls,
respectively 14c and 14d, joining said side walls to define a
bucket and may include a bolted or riveted scrapper blade 14i, FIG.
3.
A floating snow blade, respectively 20, 22, is rotatably mounted
about each of said side walls 14a, 14b, to be outwardly projecting
in front of the lower portion of each of said side walls, as to
float according to the conformation thereunder. The floating snow
blades are outwardly projecting from the lower portion of one of
the side walls to confine and force the snow between said snow
blades and said bucket to enter said bucket and to shovel it and
thereby increasing the snow content of a bucket per stroke, that is
per time the bucket is filled and emptied.
The snow blades are preferably plates having parallelogram shape
and are most preferably rectangularly shaped.
In a particular embodiment, when snow blades are rectangularly
shaped plates having a pair of opposite long sides and of opposite
short sides, each of said plates near one of its short sides, about
mid-way of said one short side, are rotatably mounted about the
lower portion of each of said side walls of said snow bucket.
If desired, each of said plates near the edge of each of their long
sides, has a reinforcing rib or a reinforcing bar running parallel
to each of said long sides, such as 20d, 20e, 22d and 22e. Also at
least one of said short sides, the one farthest away from the axis
of rotation of the plates, may be provided with resilient corners
20f, 20g, 22f, 22g, for to act as rubber-like resilience bumpers
instance rubber.
In a preferred embodiment, the plates have also rounded
corners.
In a preferred embodiment, each of said plates near one of its
short sides, is pivotally or rotatably mounted about said side
walls near said bottom wall of said snow bucket and away from said
rear wall of said bucket.
There are numerous ways for the floating snow blades to be
rotatably mounted. One of the simplest and preferred ways is to use
a pin,(such as 32, 34 FIG.3) cooperating with a retaining disc, for
instance a steel disc,(such as 36 and 38 FIG. 2), and to provide
elongated slots on floating snow blades 20, 22 parallel to the
short sides of the blades (of various shapes, as examples arcuated
at 22a FIG. 5 or not 22a), and correspondingly an orifice on each
of the side walls 14a, 14b, thereby each of the pins snugly fitting
one of the orifices and one of said slot in one of said snow blades
and enabling sliding and floating of said snow blades. The stem of
pins 32, 34, near their respective free end, may be provided with a
channel to receive a lock pin therethrough and thereby prevent
sliding of said retaining "disc" which is meant to include sleeve
throughout the disclosure and claims. The head of pins 32, 34 must
be of a thickness less than that of the reinforcing ribs 20d, 20e,
22d, 22e, to be in recess therefrom to avoid their damaging during
snow removal. Instead of lock pins a steel plate may be fastened to
the free end of the stem of the pins with a bolt or screw, the stem
having suitable axial thread.
In a preferred embodiment, the head of the pins 32', 34' is a
metallic plate having a shape to engage the side of the reinforcing
ribs 20d, 20e, 22d, 22e, to allow simultaneous rotation of the
blade with the pin and thereby reduce wearing of the pin under the
blade, as shown in FIG. 5. However, the shape of the heads must be
such as to not interfere with the floating of the blades. Discs or
sleeves 36, 38 are preferably fastened to the side walls 14a, 14b.
Welding is one of the convenient ways. They may also be provided
with lubricating channels. Instead of pins, bolts and locking nuts
may be used if desired. Bearings may be used if desired, Teflon.TM.
bearing type being .TM. a trade mark preferred. Though less
preferred, inversely the slot could be on each of the side walls
14a, 14b and an orifice on floating snow blades 22, 24.
In order to be able to operate said bucket for other purposes, it
is convenient to provide the snow blades with means to releasably
hold each of said plates against their respective adjacent side
walls of said bucket. For instance the blades may be pivoted
against their respective side walls, the side walls and the snow
blades being provided with corresponding orifices such as 14e and
22b (FIGS. 4 and 5) to receive a peg or pin and lockpin or bolt and
nut, or one of the member selected from said side walls and the
snow blades may have a threaded orifice to receive a bolt. Other
fastening means may be used as desired.
OPERATION
FIG. 1 illustrates the snow-removal wheeled vehicle 10 having
lifting arm or arms 12 including pistons in position to move
frontward the bucket and the floating snow blades. One of the
advantages of the applicant's invention, as shown in FIG. 4,
enables quick rotation of the floating snow blades and its
positioning backwardly to backwardly push and confine and cumulate
snow between the floating snow blades and the bottom wall, 14c.
As shown in FIG. 5, the floating snow blades may be fastened
against the side walls of the bucket 14 with peg or bolt 30 and nut
and lockwasher 31 or other fastening means and thereby the
snow-removal may be used for other purposes without hindering,
hampering or obstruction by said floating snow blades.
As can be easily seen, this invention is directed in general to any
snow-removal vehicle having a bucket able to collect snow.
The dimensions of the floating snow blades are function of the size
of the bucket to increase the snow pick up of a bucket thereby
decreasing the embankment or monticule on each side of a bucket
during charging operations.
EXAMPLES
In a particular embodiment snow blades are rectangularly shaped
steel plates. The height of said blades is about half that of the
height of said side walls and the length is about that of the
length of the side walls but stopping short thereof. The time to
remove the snow was thereby reduced from 25% to 40%.
Though less preferred, some benefits may also be derived using only
one floating blade. The floating blades may be sold as such,
attached to buckets or already mounted on a snow-removal
vehicle.
While this invention has been described in conjunction with a
preferred embodiment thereof, It is clear and obvious from the
above description that numerous modifications and changes therein
may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the
spirit and scope of this invention as defined by the claims
appended hereto.
* * * * *